By Whitney Donohue

Moapa Valley Progress

Volunteers from local fire stations prepare to enter a live burn trailer during a training exercise held last week in Overton. Photo by Whitney Donohue.

Volunteer firefighters from Logandale station 73 and Overton station 74 participated in a live fire training on Thursday, January 12. A special live burn training trailer, normally stationed in West Wendover, was brought to southern Nevada by a training crew in order to hold fire trainings in rural areas, including Moapa Valley, Sandy Valley, and Indian Springs.

Approximately 25 firefighters participated in the training in Moapa Valley.

Volunteer firefighters are trained to the point of entry level firefighter positions in their academy. While the training for Clark County firefighters may be more in depth, the actual fire training itself is the same. Opportunities like the live fire training are vital for volunteer firefighters who are trained to fight fires, but do not fight them on a day to day basis, Clark County Fire Dept. officials said.

The live fire training trailer was purchased with funds from a FEMA grant in 2005 as well as proceeds from Volunteer Firefighter license plates. The trailer is touring through rural southern Nevada for training for only 6 weeks.

“I think the firefighters participating in this training got a lot of practical experience,” stated Rural Fire Chief Mike Johnson. “They were put in situations that most of them rarely experience.”

The trailer itself has three burn rooms, the equivalent of a kitchen, living room, and upstairs bedroom. Two to three firefighters were in the building at a time, running through various scenarios.

The fire in the trailer is provided by a propane tank, and controlled by an operator. Temperatures in the trailer can reach as high as 385 degrees.

The scenarios also provided valuable training for the Rapid Intervention Team (RIT), a team in place at every fire. The RIT is on standby in case a firefighter gets in trouble inside a burning building. Since installing RIT teams across the country, the incidents of fire related death for firefighters has been greatly reduced, officials said.